Between Extremes

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Wednesday, April 16, 2014

When then Vice President
George H.W. Bush defeated Sen. Bob Dole in the 1988 New Hampshire primary, Dole
famously admonished Bush to “stop lying about my record.”

It has often been stated
here that Obamacare opponents should stick to the facts. It could just as
easily be said that foes are flat-out lying about the Affordable Care Act.

The latest example is health
insurance premiums, which Republicans have long claimed would “skyrocket” due
to Obamacare. But
the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has just declared that
“lower-than-expected health insurance premiums under Obamacare will help cut
the long-term cost of the program 7 percent over the next decade,” as the Los
Angeles Times put it.

These estimates show “the
law costing less than in previous estimates in part because of the broad and
persistent slowdown in the growth of health care costs,” according to The New
York Times.

Bear in mind that these are
new trends and one has to begin to suspect a cause-and-effect relationship
between Obamacare and health-care costs.

Meanwhile, the CBO has
increased its estimates on how many people will sign up for Obamacare, even
while new reports indicate that insurance purchases outside the ACA exchanges
are actually more significant than those within the exchange. People who don’t
qualify for ACA subsidies are dealing directly with insurance companies to get
their coverage.

"I think it's probably
the case that there are more people insured in the individual market off the
exchange than on the exchange right now,” said Larry Levitt, a senior
vice president at
the Kaiser Family Foundation.

It all adds up to new
coverage for possibly close to 19 million people since the new law took effect,
when you add in those who have gained coverage through Medicaid.

So think about what
the Repeal Obamacare crowd is saying. Is it saying that these 19 million
Americans should lose this coverage?

Thursday, April 10, 2014

If you live in Michigan you’ve
probably seen the outrageous ad attacking U.S. Rep Gary Peters for his support
of Obamacare.

The ad is funded by a big
business-funded group called Americans for Prosperity.It features a mother of five by the
name of Shannon Wendt.

Wendt says her insurance
company cancelled her health policy because it didn’t comply with the
Affordable Care Act.

She says her family’s “new
plan is not affordable at all” and that the law is “destroying the middle
class.”

The ad is compelling drama.
There is only one problem: It isn’t true.

“In fact,
her case is an example of how middle-class families can benefit from the law —
if they choose to do so,” according to FactCheck.org, which studied the ad’s
claims.

Someone viewing the ad
could not help but be moved by the plight described in the ad. It is a shame
that such misleading claims can sway something as important as a U.S. Senate
race. Peters is the Democratic candidate to replace retiring Carl Levin.

FactCheck.org, the bronze
or silver plans would provide better benefits at less cost than the plan
Shannon Wendt currently has. Her family would qualify for subsidies under the
law and her children could be covered by the Children’s Health Insurance
Program, a joint federal-state health care program that provides insurance at little or no cost for children of
moderate-income families who are not eligible for Medicaid.

While the Republican
National Committee did not pay for this ad, “they certainly push a similar
message,” notes Chuck Austin, founder of Senior News and Advocacy. “With 7
million people buying ACA policies, it is hard to believe many people have been
priced out of the market.”

Lots is at stake in this
year’s Senate election in Michigan. Citizens are going to have to pay close
attention if they want to avoid getting hoodwinked.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

It is all
well and good for Fran Tarkenton to say
AARP’s support of Obamacare was the last straw for him. What does a
multimillionaire like him have to worry about when it comes to affording health
insurance.

Tarkenton
criticizes AARP as too liberal in a radio ad
touting the benefits of considering membership in the Association of Mature
Americans — AMAC — as a conservative alternative.

"We
made an offer to anyone who cut their AARP card in half that we'd give them a
year's free membership," Randy Lewin, spokesman for the American
Seniors Association told the financial newsletter Sound Mind Investing. "We
had to stop (the promotion) early. I had too many 55-gallon trash bags full of
AARP cards cut in half."

None of
this, of course, changes the dominance of AARP. For that, senior citizens ought
to be grateful.

Frederick
Lynch, an associate professor of government at Claremont McKenna College in
California and the author of “One Nation Under AARP: The Fight Over Medicare,
Social Security, and America's Future,” calls the organization the “900-pound
invisible gorilla in the room” when it comes to pertinent legislation in
Congress.

“They
have a lot of clout but they love to stay out of the spotlight,” Lynch recently
told
Al Jazeera America. “All they have to do is whisper because they have a
grassroots organization that can be activated at a moment’s notice.”

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Michigan is falling behind other states in terms of student
achievement in public schools and needs to take a number of steps to improve,
according to a new study.

“Compared to the rest
of the country, Michigan’s relative

rank on the national assessment has fallen since 2003 in

fourth- and eighth-grade math and reading, and our state

is below the national average in all subjects, for almost all

subgroups,” says the study conducted by the Royal Oak-based
Education Trust-Midwest, a nonpartisan policy and advocacy group.

As an example, the ETM study says Michigan fourth-graders rank in
the bottom five states for improvement in both math and reading over the last

decade. Michigan is one of only six states in the nation that

saw a decline in average scale score in fourth-grade reading

between 2003 and 2013, the study says.

“Our most vulnerable
low-income students are not being

served by Michigan’s schools. The steady gains low-income

Michigan students saw in the past decade fell flat in 2013,

and our achievement gaps remain wide.”

But it’s not just low-income students who are struggling, the ETM study
says.Higher-income students have
also fallen in relative rank

since 2003, according to new national assessment data.

”Ten years ago, Michigan’s higher-income students

ranked above the national public average in fourth-grade

reading and math and eighth-grade reading. Now they

rank 38th in fourth-grade reading, 32nd in fourth-grade

math, and 31st in eighth-grade reading compared to their counterparts
in other states.”

Sarah
Lenhoff,director of policy and
research for ETM, said there area
number of things Michigan can do to reverse the trends and that a broad
consensus is emerging among school officials, advocacy groups and policy makers
interested in taking the necessary steps.

The principal
focuses need to be on aligning student tests to new standards the state has
adopted and training educators to teach the new standards, Lenhoff says.

Unlike many
other advocacy groups,ETM is not
calling for massive new state government spending to improve schools.

“Targeted,
strategic investment is what we recommend,” Lenhoff says.

She notes that
Gov. Rick Snyder has recommended $28 million to be spent on a new teacher
training and evaluation system, and he also has included $7.5 million for
technology to implement new Common Core academic standards. The legislature
needs to approve this spending, Lenhoff says.

The ETM study
points to Massachusetts and Tennessee as states that Michigan ought to emulate
in terms of improving its education. Massachusettsprobably has thee best schools in the nation, while
Tennessee is showing the fastest rate of improvement, Lenhoff says.

“Once lower-achieving than Michigan, Tennessee is now

outperforming our state on the national assessment,” the ETM study
says.

“In 2003, Tennessee’s
average score in fourth-grade math was eight

points lower than Michigan’s, and the state ranked 43rd in the

country — well below Michigan’s ranking of 27th. Ten years

later, Tennessee had gained 12 points compared to Michigan’s

one-point gain, and the state ranked 37th compared to

Michigan’s 42nd on the 2013 national assessment.”

The study said methods Tennessee has used to improve include
better teacher training, a data dashboard to help educators evaluate test
results and identify targets for improvement, and an early-warningsystemenabling educators to see real-time indicators of at-risk
student progress.

Among other things, the study notes Massachusetts’ successful use
of charter schools to augment achievement.

“Massachusetts is thegold standard for chartering,” Lenhoff says. But the state has high
standards for such schools, require previous experience for those seeking to
operate schools in low-performing districts.

In 2011 in Michigan, by contrast,“lawmakers lifted the cap on

charter expansion without requiring that new charter schools

meet performance standards – or demonstrate success before

replicating failed schools. Attempts to establish quality

standards have been foiled in Lansing. The state should hold all

charter schools, operators, and authorizers accountable for the

performance of their student,” the ETM study says.

Lenhoff says many of Michigan’ intermediate school districts are
implementing successful teacher training programs, but a survey of principals
done by ETM for the study that while they felt the state Department of
Education could be helpful, it lacks the capacity.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Rush Limbaugh may be correct not to trust the mainstream
media. But when he says he and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, are just interested
in the truth that’s really stretching it.

“There no
news in the media,” Limbaugh said in response to the latest report of 7 million
people signing up for Obamacare. “It's just propaganda. It's the
Democrat Party and the Regime talking points disguised as the news.” He
continued:

“Ted
Cruz, ladies and gentlemen, has just been firing both barrels on this, since
he's been talking about it at all. And this morning on Fox & Friends
he was asked by Steve Doocy, ‘Okay, Sen. The White House is claiming victory
out there. They hit their seven million number. What do you think?’

“The bulk
of the people who are signing up had health insurance to begin with — and, you
know what?” Cruz responded. “They probably had their insurance canceled
because of Obamacare 'cause we know that over six million people had their
health insurance canceled because of Obamacare.

“It is
abundantly clear this thing isn't working. It has caused millions of
Americans to lose their jobs, to be forced into part-time work, to lose their
health insurance, or to see their premiums skyrocket. It is the essence
of pragmatism to recognize this thing isn't working. Let's start over. Let's
repeal every word of it.”

Some
observations:

• Note
that Cruz does not use precise figures. Here are some exact figures, reported
by The Washington Post, from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office: “The
large media focus in the first Obamacare enrollment period has been on whether
the administration would hit CBO targets for exchange enrollment. The CBO has
said it expects 6 million people to enroll through exchanges in 2014 - more
than 6 million have signed up, so that target looks in reach if enough people
pay their premiums. But about one-third of those exchange signups were
previously uninsured people, according to the report findings. It also found
about 4.5 million adults had newly enrolled in Medicaid; 9 million people, most
who were previously insured, have signed up for individual plans off the
exchanges; and fewer than 1 million people who had their coverage cancelled
remain uninsured.”

• The
millions who have signed up for Medicaid under Obamacare (and who are not
counted among the 7 million) will now have their health care paid for by the
federal government instead of we insurance premium payers. True, that means it
is shifted to us taxpayers, but not in the form of higher taxes unless Congress
fails to cut spending somewhere else, which we at least have a say in through
elections. Besides, in choosing whether to trust insurance companies or the
government, it’s like choosing between the devil you know and the devil you
don’t know.

• Cruz’s
suggestion that Obamacare — “every word of it” — can be repealed is either
fiction or a downright lie. It would require a Republican in the White House
and 60 votes in the Senate. By then, repeal would take away insurance from, as
of today, roughly 11 million people.

• Cruz
may or may not have a point about jobs, but again, he supplies no figures. And
he fails to point out the savings Obamacare provides businesses either through
lower premiums or not having to provide coverage at all, both of which leave
more money for wages.

• “The deep political divisions the law has engendered —
just 38 percent of Americans view it favorably, according to survey findings
released this week by the Kaiser Family Foundation — make assessing it a
complex task,” report Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Robert Pear of The New York Times. “The evidence remains
largely anecdotal; for every satisfied supporter, it seems, there is a
disgruntled opponent.”

As we’ve said here before, the best source for solid facts
about Obamacare is Kaiser Health News. The sooner we start talking about facts
rather than purely political arguments, the sooner we can tackle the hard,
realistic work of improving Obamacare.

Friday, March 14, 2014

If you used poker terms you
might say that the Democrats saw the Republicans’ offer to spend $100 million
repairingMichigan potholes and
raised it$115 million, for a
total proposal of$215 million.

The Republicans have not
been spared criticism in this quarter so it is only fair to point out that
Democrats somehow always want to spend more when it comes to government.

They want more money for
schools and higher education, big-ticket items in Michigan’s budget. Now more money for roads.

More spending will lead to
more taxes, however — something they are not campaigning for in the current election
cycle.

Oh sure, they accuse Gov
Rick Snyder and the Republican-held legislature of cutting taxes for businesses
and raising them on individuals. That’s accurate. The only assumption that can
be made is Democrats want to go back to the policies of the Granholm era and
that while they may reverse tax increases on senior citizens and others, they
will raise them on businesses. What else are we to conclude?

Michigan voters have a
clear choice in this November’s election. They can judge whether lower business
taxes have generated economic activity — most importantly jobs — or whether the
improved business climate has nothing to do with taxes.That’s a plausible assumption,
according to a recent study by the Michigan League for Public Policy.

In any case, voters’
decisions should be fairly simple, at least based on the issues.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Moderate
adjustment of energy policies can
help Michigan triple its portion of production from renewable sources by 2030
without sizeable rate hikes, according to a new report.

The Union of Concerned Scientistssaid
that continuing
to ramp up renewables at the same growth rate as the current renewable energy
standard —1.5 percent per year — could boost its in-state renewable energy
portion to 32.5
percent of total energy production in 2030.

The state is expected to
have no trouble meeting a 10 percent renewable energy standard by 2015. That’s
the goal that the state legislature established in 2008. The RES expires at the
end of next year so the legislature is expected to set new goals. The Senate
Energy and Techology Committee held hearings this week and last and has another
one scheduled for next Tuesday.

“The Michigan
Municipal League advocates every day for policies that will help our
communities provide better basic services and create vibrant communities, and
that’s why we’re encouraged by the findings of this report,” said Samantha
Harkins, the league's director of state affairs. “We’re
looking forward to working with the legislature this year to increase our
renewable energy standard.”

Increasing
renewables would come at virtually no increase in electricity costs, with
consumers projected to pay just 0.3 percent more over the next 15 years, the
UCS report said.

Part of
the reason is that the costs for renewable sources like wind and solar have
declined.

“Michigan’s
overreliance on coal has significant negative health impacts on our children,
seniors and families,” said Rory Neuner of MI Air MI Health. “This report by
the Union of Concerned Scientists should be a call to action for the Michigan Legislature.
Transitioning from coal to clean energy will reduce asthma and lung disease
complications and ultimately save lives.”

“Further
diversifying Michigan’s electricity mix with renewable energy fits squarely
with Governor (Rick) Snyder’s goals of an affordable, reliable and adaptable
electricity system that also protects the environment,” said Sam Gomberg, a UCS energy analyst and the report’s
author. “And we can do it while driving investments in Michigan communities.”

Advocates
of a higher standard say would inject more than $9.5 billion in new capital
investment into Michigan’s economy between 2016-2030. Such investment would
also generate millions of dollars in new tax revenue, expenditures on facility operation and maintenance, and wind power land lease
payments for local communities, they say.

The onus
for meeting 2015 RES goal was placed on the incumbent utilities, which agreed
to the renewable requirement in exchange for moving the state from a
deregulated energy system to a hybrid system.

Now,
electric deregulation advocates are saying rates would be lower in a
deregulated environment. Historically, Michigan’s electric rates are usually at
the national average or above it, according to the Michigan Public Service
Commission.

These are
among the issues to be settled by the legislature. A compromise with broad
support among Democrats and Republicans was the result in 2008.Hopefully something that benefits all
ratepayers will emerge this time as well.